With an unbeaten 21-fight record, and a European featherweight title to his name, Spain’s Cristobal Lorente would have been forgiven for taking umbrage at having only a supporting role in The Michael Conlan Show on March 7 in Brighton. 

Kept under wraps until he was required, Lorente was eventually brought into the ring following Conlan’s comeback fight – a routine eight-round points win against Asad Asif Khan – and announced as the Irishman’s next opponent. This came as not only a surprise, but a pleasant one, for if nothing else it demonstrated the speed at which Conlan, this latest incarnation, is aiming to move this year. 

“I received the news from my coach about two weeks ago – the 26th of February, approximately – and I was so excited for this opportunity,” Lorente, now back in Spain, told BoxingScene. 

“I was in England for two days last week and it was nice to experience the ambience of a fight there. It was incredible. It’s a great place to fight. I stayed there to film the promo, do the pictures, and obviously see the Conlan fight, and it was good. I then went into the ring after the fight. 

“The UK is the center of pro boxing here in Europe, and I felt a great respect [from the fans] for Conlan’s performance and also for me when we were in the arena. They clapped for this fight and that was good to hear.

“It’s the best fight for me at the moment and I am determined to retain my European title.”

Lorente, from Barcelona, has yet to suffer defeat as a pro, with the single blemish on his record a four-round draw in his second pro fight. Since then, he has mostly had things his own way, and last year managed to courageously climb off the canvas against Italy’s Mauro Forte to become European featherweight champion in Tirana, Albania. 

“I remember the moment when I went to the floor – in my mind I thought, ‘I need to stand up, take the belt, and return home’,” Lorente, 28, recalled. “That was my fight. I needed to win the fight. This is always my attitude. Winning the European title was like a film. I know it is the beginning of great things in my career.”

His first defense of that EBU belt arrived in December, in Italy, where Lorente had a far easier time of it with Francesco Grandelli, whom he outpointed over 12 rounds. Now, likely in Britain, he will face Conlan in his second defence, knowing that victory against the popular Irishman will surpass anything he has achieved to date.

“He was a great fighter as an amateur and has tried to climb to the top in professional boxing,” said Lorente, 20-0-1 (8). “He will want to return to the top, but I am here to stop him and stop his dreams. This is my moment to shine, not his. 

“It is a good time to fight him because we are two boxers who are hungry and this is my moment to shine and become a world champion in the future. This is the fight I need to move a step closer to realising that goal.”

While it is easy for a low-key champion like Lorente to become dwarfed by the size of Conlan’s reputation and then shrink – if not physically, maybe psychologically – beneath it, Lorente sees the opportunity to fight a big name in the world of boxing as only a positive. He is also grateful to have so much footage of Conlan at his disposal and to have been granted a ringside seat to his latest fight – his first in 15 months – on Friday. 

“I saw Michael Conlan in good physical shape, and I know there is a great champion inside him,” he said. “I can see that he is still hungry and that is good for our fight. 

“I am a boxer, that is my style, and I have one of the best jabs in the division. That is a nightmare for my opponents. I see that Conlan in the last fight didn’t defend so good against the jab and that is a good opportunity for me because I can destroy him with this work. I am so confident in my jab. I feel that I can win this fight clearly and then I will enter into the world class.

“Conlan says I have the perfect style for him, but I have the perfect style to beat Conlan. When we are in the ring together, they will discover the truth about this.”

Irrespective of how their styles mesh on the night, plenty will be interested in this fight by virtue of where Conlan currently finds himself at this stage in his long and decorated fighting career. They will wonder how much ambition he has left at the age of 33 and they will wonder, too, how much back-to-back KO defeats, against Luis Alberto Lopez and Jordan Gill, have taken out of him. Some will believe Conlan will be all the sharper for knowing he cannot afford any more mistakes, let alone defeats. Others, however, will say there is perhaps no better time to fight him. 

“I think Conlan did well in those fights, even though they ended in defeat, but I have a lot of confidence in my favour,” said Lorente. “Conlan knows that this is pro boxing and that you have to make minimum mistakes. Otherwise you can lose by KO. But the reason I respect him so much is because he has fought at the top level. That is where I want to get to.”

Boxing remains a cruel, unforgiving, and merciless business, and Cristobal Lorente understands that in order for him to progress in the sport he must end The Michael Conlan Show once and for all when the pair again share a ring, this time with both wearing gloves and trunks. Until then, he is quite content to allow the star of the show to have the spotlight all to himself and do his own work away from its glare.